The history of Buddhism and Zen-Cooking

The Buddhism was created by Syaka in India around B.C. 500(There are another opinions of the period ).
Syaka spread his teaching by himselfs, to the people of India.
Because many priest-trainees entered a private school to Syaka ,the order is produced.
The priests in that time did not do labor.
The priest were devoted to training and sermon.
By the method called religious mendicancy, they were eating the food that was contributed.
The religious commandments regarding the meal contents were not so severe.
It seems to have been permitted conditionally in the case that it was contributed even, the meat.
Therefore the priest did not do cooking with himself.
The Cooking of devotion by a priest did not develop in India.
After that Buddhism spread in all Asia area by the effort of many priests.
The Buddhism that was transmitted to China which is located to the north-Asiatic Continent,
showed new development, because it received the influence of peculiar thought and,
original life culture of China and then many sects were born.

Zen sect was characteristic especially.
Zen sect was transmitted to China by Zen master Daruma of India.
The purpose of Zen sect esteems Zazen training and be to awake to true self and live correctly.

Several excellent leaders appeared one after another it.
And many priest-trainees gathered under the leader.
Many Zen sect temples were made in China every place.

There is a bigger difference in comparison with other sects, to Zen sect.

Zen sect esteemed the actual target training of everyone even from the logical research of the authority for education.
In, Zen sect the Zazen and also sutra-chanting and, field job and cleaning are the same worth.Also, because the number of persons of the priest-trainee increases and the group became big,
until now in the procurement method of the meal by the religious mendicancy of a street, it lacked the meal inside the temples.
Please think, If you suppose that 300 priests went to religious mendicancy to the small village near the temple every day ,
you may be able to imagine limit of the donation of the village.

Therefore the Zen-priest-trainee in China has come to cultivate the field and rice paddy in the Zen temple.
In Zen sect, it have come to think that, even, cleaning and washing, cooking etc.
that were thought as the miscellaneous affairs until now ,
this way are one of the important training of the same worth as sutra-chanting and Zazen .

In China around the 8th century, the Zen master Hyakujo determined the rule of the Zen sect for the first time .
It is written in the rule that sleep, meals, cleaning etc. all deeds are the Done of Buddhism .

There is such an anecdote in Hyakujo
In a day, a priestling saw Hyakujo who aged, that be the high priest of position ,tried to go to a field job.
The priestling thought that take a rest to the Zen master.
He hid the hoe of Hyakujo due to kind heart.
He thought that Zen masters can not go to the field if there is not a hoe.
Hyakujo was not able to go to the field because there is not his hoe.

After that , The Zen master said this way in the time of the meal.
“I have no qualification that eats the meal today, because I did not do labor today.”
This way he did not eat the meal in the day.
The labor was important for him so.
The common sense that great priest should be taking a rest in a room was broken by Hyakujo.

After that Buddhism spread to Japan.
And it spread because it received the protection of Shotokutaishi and nobles.
The center of the Japanese Buddhism in that time was sect Tendai(the founder is Saicho)
and sect Singon(the founder is Saicho ).
When it becomes a Kamakura era the world was disturbed in Japan.
People suffered from a war and tax increase.
Several new sects were born in response to their expectation.

Zen master Dogen who opened Soto sect did training in beginning at Mount Hiei temple Enryakuji of the sect Tendai
that was the center of the Japanese religious world .
Dogen had big question with the process on training.
He asked question to the great priests of Mount Hiei.
Even the answers of the great priests of sect Tendai did not satisfy Dogen.
He thought that in the priest of Japan can not reply to his question .
Thereupon, he did the determination that goes to China, the source of Buddhism for Japan in the time.